Army Sets Up Video-Game Studio

John Gaudiosi
06.21.04

The Army got into the game business when it released America's Army in July 2002, essentially as an interactive Army recruitment ad. The game is available for download free, and 3.4 million gamers have registered to play it.

CARY, North Carolina -- The U.S. Army, riding the success of its action video game America's Army, has set up a video-game studio with industry veterans to write other kinds of software to simulate training for a variety of armed forces and government projects.

The Army got into the game business when it released America's Army in July 2002, essentially as an interactive Army recruitment ad. The game is available for download free, and 3.4 million gamers have registered to play it.

To build on that success, the America's Army Government Applications office was quietly opened in January in Cary, North Carolina, with a team of 15 video-game creators, simulation specialists and ex-Army personnel. Many of the studio's employees come from local video-game companies like Interactive Magic, Timeline, Vertis, SouthPeak Interactive, Vicious Cycle Software and Red Storm Entertainment.

The new studio is headed by Jerry Heneghan, a West Point graduate, who spent 13 years as an Apache pilot and was a producer at video-game developer Red Storm Entertainment, best known for its Tom Clancy-branded military simulations. The North Carolina location allows easy access to a variety of locales, including Fort Bragg, where the programmers spend time getting up close and personal with new Army vehicles.

"The Research Triangle's universities offer a steady flow of fresh young talent, and we're in close proximity to developer Epic Games, which provides the game engine for America's Army," said Heneghan.

The studio also works closely with Washington agencies, West Point and Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey, where the Future Applications Team is located. It also has close ties to Orlando, Florida, the epicenter of military simulation and training technologies.

In addition, the office is working with a team of 24 video-game creators in Monterey, California, on the latest edition to its main franchise, America's Army: Overmatch, which will be released in March 2005.

The office was born when other government agencies, including the Navy and the Secret Service, expressed interest. The game's realistic 3-D environments, which cost $12 million to develop, are opening new avenues for training. For example, there is a classified virtual White House simulation for training Secret Service agents. Special operations forces also practice adoptive training and leadership negotiation with indigenous cultures through a research project with Sandia National Laboratories.

One recent success story is the Talon Robot System, a treaded titanium robot that searches for enemies and takes pictures of caves and terrain. First, the Cary studio worked with the Future Applications Team to allow the robot to be tested virtually before being built. Then, once the robot was approved for deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan, the team worked on creating a training kit that allowed soldiers stationed in those countries to practice navigating the vehicles before they arrived. Like most of the other research projects, Talon will be in the consumer version of the game, just as human AI technology is being implemented into the game.

The studio's executives say the office isn't in danger of getting axed for lack of revenue, although they won't reveal how much it makes. They can develop simulations that once would have gone to outside contractors, for a much steeper price.

"The positive response for this type of training content has been overwhelming," said Heneghan. "We are having a difficult time keeping up with the many opportunities presented to us."